The underground mining of a material like, coal, for example, inevitably involves a conveyor system to move the materials removed from the face of a mine to the exit of the mine for further use and processing. As mining "advances" and the face of the mine moves with respect to the more or less permanently installed conveyor belt system, adjustments may have to be made to either lengthen, or shorten, the conveying system so that it is as close as possible to the moving face----whether advancing, or retreating.
Particularly where the conveyor system is suspended from the roof, as opposed to the floor, of a mineshaft, the prior art has been limited to essentially manual efforts required to drive new, or remove old, roof support means to lengthen, or shorten, the conveyor system. Traditionally, manual labor has been used to instal the roof support system for both the top, load carrying, rollers and the corresponding bottom, return rollers.
The installation of top rollers depending from the roof support means has, in the prior art, involved the manual lifting of typical top roller structures, which, may weigh up to 65 pounds a piece. The heavy manual labor required, together with the relatively slow pace thereof, has lead to extended shut-down of production with its consequent inefficiencies. Whether lengthening of a conveyor system by installing additional supports, or shortening the system by removing supports, the end result is still extended periods of mine shut-down, since no lengthening, or shortening, of a conveyor system can be attempted while the conveyor system is moving.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a new and improved conveyor system and method for altering the length of the conveyor system.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method and system for altering the length of a conveyor system involving far less intensive manual work and more quickly performable, to thereby minimize mine shut-down time.